sam blickhan
@snblickhan.bsky.social
She/her. Chicago. People, tech, museums, research. Zooniverse.org Co-Director & #DH lead at Adler Planetarium. PhD. CW Handbook: https://britishlibrary.pubpub.org/
Lapsed musicologist/medievalist. Fiber artist. Musician: https://umbrellabirds.bandcamp.com
Lapsed musicologist/medievalist. Fiber artist. Musician: https://umbrellabirds.bandcamp.com
Pinned
sam blickhan
@snblickhan.bsky.social
· Nov 14
Back To Land, by Umbrellabirds
11 track album
umbrellabirds.bandcamp.com
Happy Friday, bluesky. In a rare moment of sharing something that’s NOT research or fiber art, here’s the new album from my band. Hope you like it.
umbrellabirds.bandcamp.com/album/back-t...
umbrellabirds.bandcamp.com/album/back-t...
So much awful shit is happening, but one year ago I had my first weaving class and I remain unbelievably grateful for the chance to experiment, to make things slowly and intentionally, mistakes and all. Always thankful for the #DHmakes community, too!
Everything I wove in 2025:
Everything I wove in 2025:
January 17, 2026 at 8:04 PM
So much awful shit is happening, but one year ago I had my first weaving class and I remain unbelievably grateful for the chance to experiment, to make things slowly and intentionally, mistakes and all. Always thankful for the #DHmakes community, too!
Everything I wove in 2025:
Everything I wove in 2025:
Reposted by sam blickhan
"This is a verified page fundraising support for the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO and Working Partnerships' 2026 rapid response effort to meet the needs of impacted union members, worker center members, and their families..."
workingpartnerships.betterworld.org/campaigns/su...
workingpartnerships.betterworld.org/campaigns/su...
Support Impacted Union Families! | Working Partnerships
workingpartnerships.betterworld.org
January 17, 2026 at 1:52 AM
"This is a verified page fundraising support for the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO and Working Partnerships' 2026 rapid response effort to meet the needs of impacted union members, worker center members, and their families..."
workingpartnerships.betterworld.org/campaigns/su...
workingpartnerships.betterworld.org/campaigns/su...
Reposted by sam blickhan
ICYMI: www.imls.gov/news/imls-op...
January 16, 2026 at 11:34 PM
ICYMI: www.imls.gov/news/imls-op...
Reposted by sam blickhan
Sure. AI companies have ALWAYS been training their models on Wikipedia content, which under the free and open access model is available to anyone — including AI companies. Agreements like these require AI companies to limit and offset the strain they place on Wikimedia infrastructure.
Hoping that @molly.wiki can help explain.
Wikimedia Foundation announces new AI partnerships with Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Perplexity and others
January 15, 2026 at 6:47 PM
Sure. AI companies have ALWAYS been training their models on Wikipedia content, which under the free and open access model is available to anyone — including AI companies. Agreements like these require AI companies to limit and offset the strain they place on Wikimedia infrastructure.
#DHmakes 19th-c knitting patterns from the Newberry!
Knitting Nurses!
Prompted by @sarahebull.bsky.social yesterday I poked around #NewberryLibrary for 20th c. knitting patterns. These WWII Red Cross directions for a MAN'S SOCK from May 1942 looks to have been used by nurses or housewives to create at least 13 pairs for the war effort! #FiberArts
Prompted by @sarahebull.bsky.social yesterday I poked around #NewberryLibrary for 20th c. knitting patterns. These WWII Red Cross directions for a MAN'S SOCK from May 1942 looks to have been used by nurses or housewives to create at least 13 pairs for the war effort! #FiberArts
January 15, 2026 at 6:48 PM
#DHmakes 19th-c knitting patterns from the Newberry!
Reposted by sam blickhan
2025 in People embroidery is finished & on the wall! All the meaningful interactions I had with other adults, every day of last year. Different colors for people from different parts of my life, different stitches for different interactions. Guide here: quinndombrowski.com/textiles/202... #DHmakes
January 10, 2026 at 11:17 PM
2025 in People embroidery is finished & on the wall! All the meaningful interactions I had with other adults, every day of last year. Different colors for people from different parts of my life, different stitches for different interactions. Guide here: quinndombrowski.com/textiles/202... #DHmakes
Reposted by sam blickhan
There are people who don't know, who didn't know. Moments like these are when they learn, and a window opens for people who want to turn their hunger for justice into action, for our numbers to increase. Stay mad and don't get jaded, in my opinion, get the newly passionate on board. 2/2
January 7, 2026 at 7:40 PM
There are people who don't know, who didn't know. Moments like these are when they learn, and a window opens for people who want to turn their hunger for justice into action, for our numbers to increase. Stay mad and don't get jaded, in my opinion, get the newly passionate on board. 2/2
Reposted by sam blickhan
It's good to see there are some limits (are these self-imposed by Anthropic?), I guess, but I don't see how as a user you can meaningfully take responsibility for any of these things in the right-hand image
January 6, 2026 at 5:32 PM
It's good to see there are some limits (are these self-imposed by Anthropic?), I guess, but I don't see how as a user you can meaningfully take responsibility for any of these things in the right-hand image
Reposted by sam blickhan
I'm almost certainly late to this, but the list of risks for the Claude in Chrome beta is 👀. Essentially, you the human need to be extremely cautious so that the AI agent can be permissive support.claude.com/en/articles/...
January 6, 2026 at 5:28 PM
I'm almost certainly late to this, but the list of risks for the Claude in Chrome beta is 👀. Essentially, you the human need to be extremely cautious so that the AI agent can be permissive support.claude.com/en/articles/...
Reposted by sam blickhan
Interdisciplinary research ftw…!
Really interesting research showing that while ultra-specialization in a single discipline might lead to better results early in one’s career, multi-discipline training and practice pays off big time in the long run. This applies to a range of professions from scientists to athletes and more
Recent discoveries on the acquisition of the highest levels of human performance
Scientists have long debated the origins of exceptional human achievements. This literature review summarizes recent evidence from multiple domains on the acquisition of world-class performance. We re...
www.science.org
December 21, 2025 at 11:47 PM
Interdisciplinary research ftw…!
Reposted by sam blickhan
Really seriously please take the 30 seconds and actually fill out the form.
Tomorrow, the House of Representatives will vote on a bill that bans gender-affirming medical care for any transgender person under 18, and threatens any medical professional providing this care to youth with 10 years in prison.
Tell Congress to protect trans youth and vote NO.
Tell Congress to protect trans youth and vote NO.
Protect Trans Care Now
As wave after wave of extreme measures to criminalize and strip trans people of rights and safety continue, tell Congress to act.
action.aclu.org
December 16, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Really seriously please take the 30 seconds and actually fill out the form.
Reposted by sam blickhan
So delighted that one of my favorite thinkers & writers engaged with my new preprint on empathy 🥰
By far one of the best parts of being an academic is putting ideas out into the world and seeing them refracted through other minds, who help you see things more richly than you did before.
By far one of the best parts of being an academic is putting ideas out into the world and seeing them refracted through other minds, who help you see things more richly than you did before.
"We face a social dilemma around the role of these empathy machines. Those who are most cognitively vulnerable may turn to these tools when what they most need is a flesh-and-blood human who will care for them, not sycophantically, but with thick empathy arising from the experience of being human."
Empty empathy machines
AI chatbots lack something fundamental to human empathy
buildcognitiveresonance.substack.com
December 15, 2025 at 1:47 PM
So delighted that one of my favorite thinkers & writers engaged with my new preprint on empathy 🥰
By far one of the best parts of being an academic is putting ideas out into the world and seeing them refracted through other minds, who help you see things more richly than you did before.
By far one of the best parts of being an academic is putting ideas out into the world and seeing them refracted through other minds, who help you see things more richly than you did before.
Reposted by sam blickhan
"ICE and CBP must be abolished" is the only reasonable position. We can debate the specifics of new agencies for immigration functions, but these agencies are simply too infected with a culture of impunity, racism, and fascism to continue. They're gangs with badges.
Armed ICE agents trapped US citizens in a restaurant and demanded their papers. Federal agents walked into East African restaurants in Cedar-Riverside, MN. They closed and blocked the doors. Then they demanded to see everyone’s papers. Every person present was a US citizen.
Federal agents use chemical irritant on crowd in Somali neighborhood of Minneapolis amid Trump crackdown
Federal agents have used chemical irritant to disperse a crowd in a heavily Somali neighborhood in Minneapolis. This happened Tuesday during a identification checks amid the Trump administration's cra...
www.mprnews.org
December 14, 2025 at 8:49 PM
"ICE and CBP must be abolished" is the only reasonable position. We can debate the specifics of new agencies for immigration functions, but these agencies are simply too infected with a culture of impunity, racism, and fascism to continue. They're gangs with badges.
Reposted by sam blickhan
My most fundamental belief is that we do not have to live like this.
December 14, 2025 at 1:01 PM
My most fundamental belief is that we do not have to live like this.
Reposted by sam blickhan
This is the first big funding win for the Liberatory Project (Liberatorytech.org) newly organized within @digblk.bsky.social. And as you might notice the project reaches across the Center.
Liberatory Tech Project
Liberatory Tech Project (@ Penn State) website.
Liberatorytech.org
December 12, 2025 at 9:39 PM
This is the first big funding win for the Liberatory Project (Liberatorytech.org) newly organized within @digblk.bsky.social. And as you might notice the project reaches across the Center.
Reposted by sam blickhan
Figured I’d wait to post anything for this, but I can’t tell you how excited I am for us to have the opportunity to be funded to do this work. We really do believe that our project connecting communities, digital archives of the early Black press, and human-AI systems will have a large impact
It has been so much FUN to think with @profdancy.bsky.social, @snblickhan.bsky.social , Tiffanie R. Smith, and @bcgl.bsky.social & many others. Getting to dream & plan alongside these courageous people has been a real ray of hope in this otherwise horrible moment.
December 12, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Figured I’d wait to post anything for this, but I can’t tell you how excited I am for us to have the opportunity to be funded to do this work. We really do believe that our project connecting communities, digital archives of the early Black press, and human-AI systems will have a large impact
Reposted by sam blickhan
New grant program announcement: You've heard me talk this morning about those 23 new DH awards from @schmidtsciences.bsky.social HAVI program? Well, we just announced our new RFP for 2026! Teams can be global too! Please consider applying. RFP here: www.schmidtsciences.org/opportunity/...
2026 Humanities and Artificial Intelligence Virtual Institute (HAVI) RFP - Schmidt Sciences
Overview [Read the full RFP] Schmidt Sciences is requesting proposals to the Humanities and AI Virtual Institute (HAVI), aimed at fostering research in the digital humanities with a particular focus ...
www.schmidtsciences.org
December 11, 2025 at 6:49 PM
New grant program announcement: You've heard me talk this morning about those 23 new DH awards from @schmidtsciences.bsky.social HAVI program? Well, we just announced our new RFP for 2026! Teams can be global too! Please consider applying. RFP here: www.schmidtsciences.org/opportunity/...
Reposted by sam blickhan
So excited that Zooniverse has been selected for a 2025 Humanities and AI Virtual Institute award from @SchmidtSciences that will support collaboration with friends incl. @digblk.bsky.social @douglassday.bsky.social! Read more from co-PI @snblickhan.bsky.social: daily.zooniverse.org/2025/12/11/c...
Communities in the Loop: AI for Cultures and Contexts in Multimodal Archives
We are excited to announce that Zooniverse has been selected for a 2025 Humanities and AI Virtual Institute (HAVI) award from Schmidt Sciences for our project, “Communities in the Loop: AI fo…
daily.zooniverse.org
December 11, 2025 at 4:38 PM
So excited that Zooniverse has been selected for a 2025 Humanities and AI Virtual Institute award from @SchmidtSciences that will support collaboration with friends incl. @digblk.bsky.social @douglassday.bsky.social! Read more from co-PI @snblickhan.bsky.social: daily.zooniverse.org/2025/12/11/c...
I am over the MOON to be part of this cohort with our project, "Communities in the Loop: AI for Cultures & Contexts in Multimodal Archives."
It's so wonderful when years of "Wouldn't it be cool if..." conversations can actually come to fruition!
Read more: daily.zooniverse.org/2025/12/11/c...
It's so wonderful when years of "Wouldn't it be cool if..." conversations can actually come to fruition!
Read more: daily.zooniverse.org/2025/12/11/c...
December 11, 2025 at 5:56 PM
I am over the MOON to be part of this cohort with our project, "Communities in the Loop: AI for Cultures & Contexts in Multimodal Archives."
It's so wonderful when years of "Wouldn't it be cool if..." conversations can actually come to fruition!
Read more: daily.zooniverse.org/2025/12/11/c...
It's so wonderful when years of "Wouldn't it be cool if..." conversations can actually come to fruition!
Read more: daily.zooniverse.org/2025/12/11/c...
I can confirm, thinking with this crew is honestly wonderful, 10/10, Dream Team experience. I have more to say but a meeting to facilitate! More soon.
It has been so much FUN to think with @profdancy.bsky.social, @snblickhan.bsky.social , Tiffanie R. Smith, and @bcgl.bsky.social & many others. Getting to dream & plan alongside these courageous people has been a real ray of hope in this otherwise horrible moment.
December 11, 2025 at 3:59 PM
I can confirm, thinking with this crew is honestly wonderful, 10/10, Dream Team experience. I have more to say but a meeting to facilitate! More soon.
Reposted by sam blickhan
I am beyond thrilled to share some good news:
1. I've moved to a new job at UC Santa Barbara.
2. We have been selected for a 2025 Humanities and AI Virtual
Institute award from @schmidtsciences.bsky.social!
Both, we hope, will allow us to continue building the work! +
hfa.ucsb.edu/news/schmidt...
1. I've moved to a new job at UC Santa Barbara.
2. We have been selected for a 2025 Humanities and AI Virtual
Institute award from @schmidtsciences.bsky.social!
Both, we hope, will allow us to continue building the work! +
hfa.ucsb.edu/news/schmidt...
Schmidt Sciences awards $750,000 to UCSB-led team to transform Black press archives with AI | Division of Humanities and Fine Arts
English professor Jim Casey leads a national coalition to recover 19th-century African American newspapers using machine learning and public crowdsourcing.
hfa.ucsb.edu
December 11, 2025 at 3:21 PM
I am beyond thrilled to share some good news:
1. I've moved to a new job at UC Santa Barbara.
2. We have been selected for a 2025 Humanities and AI Virtual
Institute award from @schmidtsciences.bsky.social!
Both, we hope, will allow us to continue building the work! +
hfa.ucsb.edu/news/schmidt...
1. I've moved to a new job at UC Santa Barbara.
2. We have been selected for a 2025 Humanities and AI Virtual
Institute award from @schmidtsciences.bsky.social!
Both, we hope, will allow us to continue building the work! +
hfa.ucsb.edu/news/schmidt...
A timely share, as I keep seeing the Speedweve (or other mending loom) recommended on holiday gift lists, and a (free!) tutorial zine + little loom kit seems like an A+ gift for the crafty, pro-mending folks in your life.
& the "Speedweve for mending" fun tutorial zine by @snblickhan.bsky.social & me: zinebakery.com/homemade-zin...
Speedweve for Mending | Zine Bakery
#DHMakes Methodz #1, by Sam Blickhan and Amanda Wyatt Visconti
zinebakery.com
December 10, 2025 at 1:54 PM
A timely share, as I keep seeing the Speedweve (or other mending loom) recommended on holiday gift lists, and a (free!) tutorial zine + little loom kit seems like an A+ gift for the crafty, pro-mending folks in your life.
Reposted by sam blickhan
Want to read these but can't stop by our lab's free public zine distro? These zines' authors generously share them free online: @halperta.bsky.social's Taking Action in Higher Ed (advocacy risk plan halperta.com/shalperta%20...), +
In Charlottesville for a friend’s retirement party. In the meantime dropped in on @scholarslab.bsky.social at UVA. What an amazing and welcoming place of making and creativity. @stradadoes.bsky.social still hoping! Thanks, Ammon Shepherd and the welcoming student at the entrance. A few zines
December 10, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Want to read these but can't stop by our lab's free public zine distro? These zines' authors generously share them free online: @halperta.bsky.social's Taking Action in Higher Ed (advocacy risk plan halperta.com/shalperta%20...), +
Reposted by sam blickhan
Encouragingly similar to Mike Keller’s closing reflections encouraging deep reading, deep thinking, and deep respect in libraries, archives, and museums even as they engage critically with AI #ff2025
A writing group accountability friend said the way that she is resisting AI is to slow down when reading, and not give into the pressure to continually skim the written word.
I've tried to do the same, and to take more time to read, and reread.
I've tried to do the same, and to take more time to read, and reread.
December 5, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Encouragingly similar to Mike Keller’s closing reflections encouraging deep reading, deep thinking, and deep respect in libraries, archives, and museums even as they engage critically with AI #ff2025